Hyderabad: Taapsee Pannu became a household name with her histrionics after Bollywood film Pink and Naam Shabana. The actress was called on a show - East India Comedy, in which, she took a dig at veteran director K. Raghavendra Rao who has fixation with "women's navel". The actress says that Tollywood, who had a notion that she is only fit for glamorous roles thought she can also act after her films Pink ,etc. came out in Hindi.

"In the South, they think I can only pull off glamorous roles. When they saw Pink and Naam Shabana, they were like, oh, she can act," she said.

Taapsee made her acting debut in 2010 with Jhummandi Naadam, directed by K. Raghavendra Rao. She went on to say that during picturisation of a song , she was hit by a coconut on her midriff.

"The director who launched me is known to show the sensuality of a woman by showing the midriff and throwing fruits and flowers on the midriff. My turn came, and maybe because I was not prepared as I told you, they threw a coconut at me! I don't know what's sensuous about a coconut hitting my midriff,” she said.

“I don’t know what is so sensuous about hitting a girl on her midriff. But the director who has made over 100 films has launched Sridevi and Jayasudha. They were apparently hit by flowers and fruits on their midriff,” she quipped.

The actress' response didn’t go down well with Telugu folks and received flak for her criticism. Some also said that though she moved to Bollywood she should remember her roots.

The director, in an interview in 2015, when asked about his portrayal of women's sensuality by hitting fruits or flowers at their midriff said, "Some sections are unnecessarily raking up as an issue. Throwing flowers or fruits on them is to worship it".